Fox fully believed in the omnivorous nature of humans as a biological development. They were meant to eat a wide and varied diet, or their teeth and digestive systems wouldn’t function as they do.

Unsure of where he would stand on catching falling stars to feed to a mythological dragon, though.

He was, for the most part, out for the sights, taking a breather from poking trash and scooping beach refuse; his Bayleef, Laurel, walked by his side as he waded out into the tall grass, peering up occasionally to frown at the scythe of Meteno arcing its way towards their collective bared necks.

The air became charged with the smell of ozone and electrical charges and he heard Eva Morales giving orders to her Jolteon as the two prepared to corral a large sect of falling Minior.

“Tryin’ t’get one in every color?” he asked, wondering what on earth someone could want so many Minior for.

Laurel launched a magical leaf of her own to assist in gathering the scattered space rocks, glimmering foliage breaking into different streams to strike targets.

Eva Morales

☉

Electricity cracked through the air as the Jolteon sprang forward. Numbing waves of thunder and pale-yellow spark lit up dark, rocky crags of Mt. Chimney. Amongst the flashes of light, Eva tossed empty pokeballs towards the paralyzed or incapacitated Minior.

Her concentration is broken by the appearance of MAGICAL LEAVES. For a moment, she smile, expecting to see Virizion appear within the darkness, “How’d you know where to find me?” she smile, expecting it to be MATIAS SILPH when she turns to great the footsteps. Instead, another voice asks her intentions. A look of surprise greets Fox, and she stops mid-throw, “Oh! I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else!”

Eva takes a break to smile at Fox, “Oh uhhh for research!” she’s not particularly fond of Minior, but they do remind her of Zac Ramsay, who she misses dearly.

---

faelan foxgrove

Fox’s smile is halfway between a smirk and a wolf’s maw, aiming for passably pleasant. She clearly had him pegged for someone else. He cocks his head, watching the scattering of Minior falling stunned to the earth behind her.

“What’re y’ researchin’?” he asked, accent bouncing from his words, head inclined slightly. His hands came out of his pockets and he fixed his jacket as he stepped forward. “And do y’need any help?”

He is genuinely interested in her field of study. Though his days of scientific exuberance lay broken and bloodied behind him, he was a scientist once, too.

Laurel chirps helpfully and puts her front feet on a nearby Minior to roll the dazed creature closer to the lady researcher.

Eva Morales

☉

The professor’s eyes linger on the Bayleaf for a moment longer, mildly disappointed it’s not MATIAS SILPH and Virizion but she doesn’t let that slip through the cracks of pleasant smile she offers the stranger.

He seemed intrigued by the talk of research. A fellow scientist perhaps? Or just a curious civilian?

“Catching as many as we can to analyze the particulate matter coating their shells. We’re trying to see fi there’s anything we can tie to the meteor to better understands it,” Eva pulled that right out of her ass and she was quite proud with how legit it sounded. It was better than “snacks for Rayquaza”.

“Sure! We can use all the help we can get!” Eva reaches into the satchel and pulls out a handful of pokeballs for Fox to take, “But errr if you get hurt, promise you won’t sue The League?”

---

faelan foxgrove

“Ah, space debris,” Fox chirped, directing Laurel to swirl a few smaller Minior in a magical leaf. The little meteor tornado deposited a handful of the creatures down near Eva, dizzy and slow to rise.

He had to admit, he was a little curious, now, himself. Being new to the region and summarily trapped here meant he was both uninformed of Hoenn’s greater plotlines while simultaneously strangled by them. But Eva’s explanation seemed… believable, at least insofar as she was working for a governing body that was scrambling to save their skins.

When the only recourse you have left is pulling a miracle out of your ass, justifications that fell in that same category seemed all the more credible.

His laugh when she made him promise that he wouldn’t sue said governing body if he was injured was genuine.

“Wouldnae dream of it, miss.” He accepted the Pokeballs with a wink. “So is astronomy your field of study or are you another innocent intellectual drawn into this apocalyptic scramble?”

Eva Morales

☉

Eva literally wanted to smack herself on the head. Studying particulate matter to compare to the meteor? For Arceus’ sake, what was she thinking? That sounded pretty dumb, even for her standards and she was a scientist! Although not an astronomer or physicist, she knew more than she’d care to admit about Hoenn’s current situation.

“Ok great! Thanks!” and with that she relinquished some pokeballs to the stranger, eyeing the number of Minior the Bayleaf was able to corral near them. Eva threw a few pokeballs to nab some of the dizzy ones. Lance pounced to zap one of the more coherent ones with a THUNDER WAVE.

Eva couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at Fox’s descriptive wording of the question, “Uhh no, I’m not an astronomer, but I work for The League so it’s kind of an all-hands-on-deck situation, you know?” he had to know, he was stuck in Hoenn, after all.

---

faelan foxgrove

“Of course.” And it did make sense (even though it did not really… make sense). Science was like that, sometimes. Sometimes, you just threw bullshit at a wall to see if it stuck, especially when the clock was ticking down and the collective ass of an entire population was on the line.

“What is your normal field of study, then?” he asked, his line of questioning stemming more from his own curiosity than any sort of judgemental place. After being enveloped by the scientific community and then abruptly severed from it and thrown onto the warpath, he took every opportunity to dip his toes back into the water.

He missed it.

Eva Morales

☉

many minds were better than one – that had always been Eva’s philosophy. It’s a quality she strived to hold strong to in her lab. She welcomed the opinions of even non-scientists. Sometimes, their outside perspective was invaluable and a commonsense approach to things could be the easiest solution. So even despite being unaware of Foxgrove’s background, she welcomed the dialogue.

“By training, I’m a veterinarian,” she tossed another pokeball at a paralyzed Minior, moving to snatch another form her satchel while Lance shot towards another of them, “Biology, physiology, disease, all that fun stuff,” which really was fun!

“What do you do?” she asked curiously and out of decency to not just talk about herself the whole time.

---

faelan foxgrove

If he’d had ears, they would have perked.

“Microbiology was my passion,” he said, gently rolling another stunned Minior closer to Eva, so she could collect it. “Bacteriology. Infectious disease.”

Before… before.

“I turned in my white jacket for… more wholesome endeavors.” It’s not a truth and not a lie. “I got so sick of studying what hurts and kills people. I wanted to learn more about what keeps them alive. Botany, health studies, nutrition.”

Not a truth, and not a lie, though sometimes the fox outfoxes himself.

Eva Morales

☉

Equally as intrigued, Eva’s metaphorical ears perked up as well. Microbiology, infectious disease . . . those were all things she too found fascinating, mostly because she needed to know how to fix them.

“Oh wow!” she smiled brightly, turning to face Faelen with intrigue, “What a coincidence!” suddenly, she felt even more stupid for how she described the ‘research’ she was conducting with the Minior. This stranger shared very similar interests.

Eva collect the offer Minior with the gentle toss of another ball. She reached to collect it and place it with the others, “I’m Eva, by the way. I don’t think I caught your name . . .” would she recognize it from any publications?

---

faelan foxgrove

That seems to get her attention-- though which part hooks her, specifically, Fox can’t tell. Her focus shifts from the Minior stacking up around her like the ball return at a bowling alley to him.

“Fox,” he introduced, holding out his hand to shake, “most recently of Kanto.” He tucks his chin, one eyebrow lifting, thoughtful.

“Y’wouldn’t happen to be Eva Morales of head professor of Hoenn fame, would you?”

Eva Morales

☉

“Fox,” she repeated the name, it wasn’t a common name, but it always wasn’t one she recognized. Eva figured she would have remembered someone named Fox.

“Kanto?” now she just sounded like an echo. The professor’s eyebrows shot up in interest for obvious reasons, Eva being a Kanto native herself. However, she cant help but let you a light hearted laugh, rolling her eyes quite dramatically at his description, “Eva Morales, yes. Head Professor, yes. Hoenn fame? That seems like a stretch,” Eva had always been a humble person, “It’s nice to meet you, Fox.”

---

faelan foxgrove

She says his name like she’s trying out the taste. He can tell she doesn’t know who he is, which is exactly what he chose his name for. His smile is friendly if the tiniest bit apologetic.

“Kanto,” he repeats, in triplicate, and then, “Fuschia City. Long removed, but. Fuschia City.”

She reacts to his nod to her prominence like it has become a tiring thing.

“How dreary to be somebody,” he said, stepping out of the way as Laurel rolled another Minior near to Eva for her to collect. “How many is that, then? Do you need more?”

Eva Morales

☉